“Never Give Up” : Sumeet Vyas at Josh Talks Mumbai

Sumeet Vyas is a face that every Indian youngster is familiar with today, after Sumeet broke out as lead actor of India’s top web series Permanent Roomates & Tripling thereafter.

From writing scripts for short films when unemployed to bagging enviable roles in web series, actor Sumeet Vyas is redefining ‘cool’. He has become a recognisable face through his appearances in movies like Parched, English Vinglish and the popular series Permanent Roommates.

His character Mikesh was fun and goofy which made him forge an instant connection, especially with the youth. He’s an effortless actor with a great deal of flair. Watch the video to see how he became one of the finest actors as described by Sumeet himself.

A Tea Seller, Novelist And A Student : Laxman Rao

Laxman Rao is the burning example of the fact that no dream is too big to be achieved, no challenge is too big to be overcome and no resource is too little to prohibit the person from reaching the definite goals.

After migrating from his ancestral village in Amrawati Disrrict of Maharashtra, he had to take up several odd jobs including working in a textile mill before settling down to sell tea by the roadside at ITO in Delhi. Simultaneously, driven by his passion, he started reducing his thoughts and experiences of his life in writing and, that is how, he became writer of his two initial books.

Mr Rao’s books are based on real-life stories of his customers and other people around.

He approached few book publishers, based in Daryaganj, New Delhi. In the beginning, he could not succeed, probably because of his lineage from the poor family and callous attitudes of the publishers towards budding and upcoming writers. But he persisted in and succeeded in getting his books published.

He then got himself registered with the National Institute of Open Schooling for class 12 examinations. He had been pursuing his graduation degree even at the age of sixty. Now, Laxman Rao, has become a prolific Hindi-language author whose two dozen novels, are now available on online platforms like Amazon along with availability of his books on his famous tea-stall, which has become a good place convergence of writers and intellectuals.

Laxman Rao with Former President of India, Smt Pratibha Rao Patil

The story of Laxman Rao is now included in those inspiring stories from this great nation in which students, studying under a streetlight, those of authors, whose manuscripts get rejected over and over again and of chaiwallahs.

It won’t be an exaggeration to call him Delhi’s most popular chaiwalla – for his passion to write has attracted a lot of attention. Besides, he has been honoured by many dignitaries, including Indira Gandhi and Pratibha Patil. There are many elite visitors to his tea stall in the ITO.

Internet, the world’s biggest stage : Ashish Chanchlani

Eliciting a flash of smile, or a giggle, which carries great momentous merriment, that too from an absolutely invisible audience; one can say is a job of a great performer, but what about a performer who is taking this effort every single day? A performer who is present for his audience, at surprising hours with delightfully humorous content making the viewers go into flavours of laughter.

Ashish Chanchlani talks about his journey from an engineering student to becoming an Internet celebrity. He talks about how Internet is so wide and the freedom one can get over the web. He motivates the upcoming content creators by giving them an idea about the content on the web.

Ashish is a Viner, has over 2.3m followers on Instagram. He makes short funny videos across all of his social media profiles. He’s also an aspiring actor who wishes to make it big in Bollywood someday. He says he’s never going to stop entertaining people throughout his life.

Click here to watch the full video here.

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This budding artist has bagged a role in an upcoming web series after cracking auditions and a series of failures. Not only that, he is also working on his own ideas and is soon coming up with his own project.

In a male dominated society where women pilots are a handful, Anny Divya, born in a small town in Punjab with a dream to become a pilot. Yes, she was a kid who had dreams of flying really high, when the society told her not to. But, Anny had dreams of being one and of not taking the doctor-engineer career route. Luckily, her parents supported her but she faced resistance from her relatives.

Anny, born in Pathankot to an army man, wanted to be a pilot ever since she was a little kid. After her father took voluntary retirement, her family shifted to Vijaywada. When Anny turned 17 in her 12th standard, she got through Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi (IGRUA), the pilot training institute in Uttar Pradesh. Her family took a loan to fund the course to fulfill her dream to fly.

There she faced challenges of her own. While she could read and write well in English, Divya was very conscious of her English-speaking skills. She worked on her english speaking skills and gained expertise over it.

Source: hindustantimes.com

In a recent interview given to Hindustan Times, she said;

“The cultural change from a small town to a big city was overwhelming for me. I had difficulty adjusting and speaking English. People used to mock me for my poor English and that hurt me a lot. At times, I thought of going back. However, I didn’t. With my parents’ support, I worked hard enough to win a scholarship.”

The resolute woman was not ready to give up. At 19, she finished her training and landed a job with Air India. Then, she flew a Boeing 737 when she was sent to Spain for training and when she turned 21, she went to London for another training and flew a Boeing 777!

Source: indiasamvad.co.in

From there on, there was no looking back for her. Anny traveled the world and proved her capabilities to everyone who ever opposed her.

“I am proud to say that India has taken lead over rest of the world including developed countries when it comes to the number of female pilots. In India, 15% woman fly as airline pilots, while globally, it is an average of approximately 5%.”

Living by the mantra of hard work, Anny Divya’s small piece of advice to everyone is:

“Your parents are your biggest support, so trust them to keep you grounded. And there’s no substitute for hard work.”

Laxmi : Hero Not a Victim

“I felt like my whole body was burning! My skin just seemed to come off “, recalls 32 years old Laxmi, who was just 15 at the time, she suffered acid attack. What was her fault? She rejected the undue advances of the man twice her age and in the process hurt his ego. That was enough for the man to get hold of her on that dreaded day in 2005 and throw acid on her face. He damaged her face, her body, but could not succeed in damaging her spirit.

Yes, Laxmi was down and out for quite some time due to the mental and physical scars, but she managed to stand up again to face the world, which treats the women a second class citizen.

She decided to help other victims, as she knew how it was difficult to fight the battle alone against all odds. Thus, she ensured that the other victims couldn’t be alone in their battle.

Laxmi started her career as a campaigner with ‘Stop Acid Attacks’ campaign. She worked as a campaign coordinator in initial days. Soon, Laxmi became a voice for the survivors of acid attacks, across the world. She received multiple awards in India for her work to curb the sale of acid and to rehabilitate the survivors of acid attacks through her foundation.

In 2014 Laxmi started hosting a television show, Udaan, on New Express.

Laxmi happens to be a beautiful woman, beautiful for the fact that she has dedicated her life for other’s cause, beautiful for the fact that she is standing against something that is seriously wrong in our society.

Today, she is the director of Chhanv Foundation, an NGO, which is dedicated to help the survivors of acid attacks in India. Laxmi received a 2014 International Women of Courage award by US First Lady Michelle Obama. She was also chosen as the NDTV Indian of the Year.

In her personal space, she had once given up on finding a partner thanks to the stares and comments she received in public left her too ashamed to leave the home, but went on to find love through her campaigning work to stop other women suffering the same fate.

Things took a turn in her personal life when she met activist Alok Dixit and both of them fell in love and decided to stay together forever.

Today, they are the proud parents of a baby girl Pihu.

The people from all walks of life and from all over the country show sympathy for Laxmi. They narrate the story of her bravery loudly. But has the society really changed? Has the “man” in the society understood that No means No from a girl. It does not entitle him to hurt and cause any harm to the woman. Has the society gathered courage to stop an acid attacker on the streets if they see the one happening any day? Will the ones, who lauds Laxmi on TV, accept an acid attack victim as a bride for themselves or for their family? These things remain unanswered. Laxmi’s dream would come true only when these questions stands answered.

An Academician and A Motivational Speaker : Dr. Rajdeep Manwani

Dr. Rajdeep Manwani is an academician, trainer, motivational speaker and quizmaster par excellence both by training and by choice.

He is a triple post graduate with a Ph.D degree. He has completed his M.Com, M.B.A and M.Phil. He has been awarded a Doctorate in Commerce for his research in ‘Strategic Evaluation of Training in Commercial Banks.

He secured the gold medal for topping both the M.Com and M.Phil examinations in the University of Mysore. An eloquent speaker, he has won several debates and was adjudged the best speaker in the International Tape Speech Competition, conducted by the Toast Masters International in 2008.

He holds the record of being adjudged the best impromptu speaker for four years in India and Sri Lanka for the years 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012.

(Receiving the National award as a role model for the empowerment of persons with disability from the Hon’ble President of India)

He has been awarded the Distinguished Toastmaster, the highest award in Toastmasters International. He is the recipient of the National award as a role model for the empowerment of persons with disability from the Hon’ble President of India in December, 2013 and also the recipient of the special award given by the Chief Minister of Karnataka in December, 2011.

He has received the Rotary award also for vocational service in education. He has received the Extraordinary Pathfinder award, given by the Rotary International and the Positive Health Hero award, given by Dr. Batra’s Clinic and Bajaj auto in October, 2012.

He has hosted several training programmes, delivered motivational speeches and held management talk shows on the All India Radio.

He has also done workshops on humour and wit in several colleges and companies. He is a passionate quizzer and quizmasters for several inter school and inter collegiate competitions.

At present, he is working as the co-ordinator in the Department of Commerce in Jain University, Bangalore and is a part of the internal quality assurance cell of the college and also a key member of the research cell of the college and has completed two minor research projects on ‘Entrepreneurship’ and ‘Student Behaviour’.

He has published several research articles and presented several papers on education and management in various national and international seminars.

He has trained, motivated and mentored over 17,500 students and executives over a span of eighteen years and received excellent ratings from his corporate and educational clients, which include Britania Industries Limited, State Bank of India (SBI), Sobha Developers , WIPRO and Kotak life Insurance and the likes.

He firmly believes in the motto of his life “Touching Lives, Making a Difference”